The pandemic begins in the Chinese city of Wuhan – but the exact origin of the coronavirus is still unclear. The controversial laboratory theory is now picking up speed again.
Geneva – One of the biggest questions about the Corona * pandemic is how the virus was even transmitted to a human for the first time. The chief investigator of the World Health Organization (WHO), Peter Ben Embarek, now considers it possible that the world’s first corona patient was infected in a laboratory in Wuhan. “An employee who became infected in the field through sampling falls under one of the probable hypotheses,” said the WHO researcher on Thursday (12.08.2021) on Danish television. A team from the WHO considered the thesis of the laboratory infection to be “extremely unlikely” just a few months ago.
The WHO team of international experts was only able to visit Wuhan in January – more than a year after the virus was discovered. The corresponding investigation report was published at the end of March, but did not provide any clear results. Doubts quickly arose about the report. China is repeatedly accused of blocking investigations into the origin of the coronavirus * and withholding crucial data. The country delayed the research team’s trip for months and then put massive pressure on the scientists. Peter Embarek made it clear in the Danish broadcast that China originally attached great importance to the fact that the laboratory thesis should not even be mentioned in the report.
Corona origin in China: According to WHO, disclosing data is “crucial”
The WHO has now called on China once again to disclose the raw data on the first corona cases. Access to this information is of “crucial importance” for further investigations into the origin of the pandemic, the WHO said on Thursday (August 12, 2021). This is also important in order to precisely test the theory of a laboratory accident *. China rejected the demands resolutely: Beijing preferred “scientific” efforts to “political” ones.
“We are against the political tracing (…) and the abandonment of the joint report”, which was published after a visit by a WHO team of experts in Wuhan in January, said Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu on Friday (13.08.2021). He rejected suggestions for new investigations. Further research could only take place on the basis of the report that has already been published. However, the WHO itself emphasized that the search for the origin of the coronavirus should not be misused for political purposes. It shouldn’t be an exercise in blaming and pointing the finger.
Above all, China and the USA * are arguing about the origin of the pandemic. The US has long accused China of hindering the analyzes, while Beijing suspects that the US wants to blame China for the outbreak of the pandemic. It was only in June that a secret study from the USA fueled the rumors that a laboratory accident was behind Sars-CoV-2 *.
Question about the origin of the coronavirus: laboratory accident or zoonosis?
Experts repeatedly demand that the origin of the coronavirus must be carefully examined. US President Joe Biden * has even hired the country’s secret services to investigate *. For the origin of the coronavirus as a viral disease that can be transmitted to humans, two main theses are currently being discussed: Soon after the start of the pandemic, there was speculation that the virus was caused by an accident at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, which is researching coronaviruses , could have escaped. The Chinese government, however, vigorously denies the laboratory theory.
According to experts, however, the more likely scenario is that the virus could have reached humans from bats via an intermediate host, i.e. through a so-called zoonosis. In China, the theory is also being spread that the virus could have come from a US military laboratory.
In order to further advance the investigations into the origin of the corona, all countries – including China – are now called upon to enable the sharing of raw data and the re-examination of samples, emphasized the WHO. Rapid international cooperation is essential in order to be able to react better to pathogens with pandemic potential in the future. (iwe with agencies) * fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
